Farmer crisis: Rahul Gandhi to undertake 15-km padyatra in Telangana

Hyderabad: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi will embark on a two-day visit to Telangana beginning on Thursday which would include a 15–km ‘padayatra’ in Adilabad district. [caption id=“attachment_2242486” align=“alignleft” width=“435”]  Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi.[/caption] According to Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, TPCC working president, Rahul’s visit is to highlight the plight of farmers in the country in general and state in particular. He will stay in Nrimal town on Thursday night, he said. Rahul’s visit is seen as a morale boost for the party cadre as this would be his maiden visit to the state after separation from Andhra Pradesh on 2 June, 2014. Despite aggressive campaign and claiming credit for separate statehood of Telangana, Congress lost elections in the state last year. The Gandhi scion would arrive at the international airport at 4 pm on Thursday and briefly interact with student leaders of Osmania University, who have been agitating on employment issues. Rahul would then proceed to Nirmal by road and may stop at a few points enroute. Next day he will proceed on ‘padayatra’ from Vadiyala village at 7 am, the TPCC leader said. “He will meet the families of farmers who have allegedly committed suicide due to agrarian distress in Telangana and console them,” he added. Also, Rahul will address farmers at Koratikal village at around 4 pm and return to Hyderabad after the event, and would leave for Delhi by 8 pm, according to Mallu. Prior to his Telangana visit, Rahul had aggressively raised farmers’ issues in Parliament and also reached out to farmers in Punjab and Maharastra. As per Mallu, as many as 936 farmers committed suicide in the state during recent times. Telangana opposition parties Congress, TDP, BJP and others too alleged that hundreds of farmers have committed suicide due to agrarian crisis since the TRS government came to power last year, a charge denied by the administration. PTI